Labor demands local govt merger answers

The State Opposition says the rejection of a proposal to merge three Great Southern municipalities highlights the uncertainty facing local government in rural Western Australia.

Residents in the Shire of Cuballing opted to reject a proposal to amalgamate with the Town and Shire of Narrogin.

The Local Government Minister says he is concerned by the decision because small local governments are facing major financial and logistical challenges.

However, Labor's local government spokesman, David Templeman, says the Government has created uncertainty by creating a fear of forced amalgamations.

"The scare tactics that have been used in the past four-and-a-half years, which has created the uncertainty and meant that a lot of councils have had to go through costly exercises, will amount to nothing if the Government isn't open," he said.

"The Government needs to come clean. Are they going to force councils, like the Shire of Cuballing and others, to merge?

"New Minister Tony Simpson needs to say one way or the other if they're going to force councils to merge."

Free trade is the oldest argument in federal politics and the issue that literally defined the federation era but opposition exists to the TPP, courtesy of the Investor-State Dispute Resolutions clause.